Local officials and sources said that at least five people were killed, including women and children, and a number of others were injured during the past two days after thunderbolts resulting from heavy rains struck several governorates in southern and northern Yemen.
The death toll thus rose. Rain and lightning struck 18 people in less than a week and 23 people since the end of June, according to what was reported by Reuters.
Local sources in Al Mahwit Governorate, northwest of Yemen, told Reuters that two people died on Saturday evening after thunderbolts struck the district. Al-Tawila in the Mountain Governorate.
The sources indicated that a teacher died while returning from work in a school in the Al-Mahwit Governorate on the first day of the new school year.
In the Taiz Governorate, local sources reported that a thunderbolt killed one person and also resulted in one injury. His wife and four of his children. In the mountainous Raymah Governorate, which is under the control of the Houthis, a local official said that a girl died and her mother was critically injured as a result of a thunderbolt in the village of Al-Maqtar in the Al-Jaafaria District.
At least 13 people, including women and children, died in Sanaa and the governorates of Hodeidah, Al-Mahwit, Taiz and Ibb. In the north and Al-Dhalea in the south of the country due to thunderbolts from the middle of last week until Saturday.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen warned late last month that the second rainy season in Yemen, which begins this July, will affect many vulnerable areas.